Last Saturday morning, I packed up my bag, grabbed my tent, and headed out on what would be the most Canadian Canada Day weekend I’ve ever had.
I hopped in the car and hit the road all the way out to Jasper National Park. There were a few hiccups in the overall plan, and my friend Kevin and I had to sleep in the overflow campground for the first night as the entire national park was booked solid, but that hardly dampened the experience.
On Sunday morning, we awoke to clear skies amidst the picturesque Rocky Mountains determined to make the best of what little time we had left. We jumped in the car and took a tour of a few full campgrounds, and managed to find the only available campsite in Jasper, made vacant through cancelation, a great start to what would be an even better day.
After locking down a real campsite, Kevin and I suited up and hit the Sunwapata River for a whitewater rafting experience. Our guide, Cole, was everything we could have hoped he would be, essentially the Canadian equivalent to a Californian “surfer bro,” and he was full of local knowledge, rafting expertise and funny quips to boot.
The primary source of the Sunwapata River is the Athabasca glacier, leaving the water temperature averaging at only 3 C, and making for a frigid, yet exhilarating ride through the turbulent waters of the Sunwapata (Fun fact: Sunwapata is Stoney Indian word meaning ‘turbulent river’). Thankfully all of us stayed on board the raft throughout the 14km voyage downstream, and we even made some friends who were staying at our newly found campground on the bus ride back into town.
With six hours of daylight left to enjoy, we hopped back in my car and made our way out to Miette Hot Springs, where we hiked into the wilderness for a few hours. A few kilometres into the hike we found a small bridge leading across a glacial stream, and followed it up for another half an hour or so, at which point we took a break, chilled some drinks in the glacial stream, and I made the bold decision to go for a dip, which lasted a grand total of about 45 seconds.
As the sun started to descend beyond the vast mountainous landscape, we made our way back to the car, and headed back to the Wapiti campground to socialize with the friends we made whitewater rafting.
It’s amazing how many big items I managed to cross off my bucket list in only 48 hours, and to top it all off, they were some of the most Canadian activities I’ve ever involved myself in, and what better weekend to do it than Canada Day.
What’s more, as I was going through my Rocky Mountain withdrawal, I posted the photos we took on the trip to Facebook, and a close friend from when I grew up in B.C. saw them and sent me a message. Long story short, I’ve already booked a trip back to the Rockies for the end of July, in what will be a three day hiking trip and elementary school reunion with my old pal Dave. Berg Lake trail here we come!
